Before he was "The Rock," Dwayne Johnson was born May 2, 1972, in Hayward, California.

Wrestling is in Johnson's blood. His father, Rocky "Soul Man" Johnson, was a member of the first African American tag-team champions and his grandfather, Peter Maivia, was of the first Samoan wrestlers.

But Johnson's first sport was football. After being a high school star, he joined college football team, the Miami Hurricanes. Over his tenure at the school, Johnson only started once but appeared in 39 games, had 77 tackles, and was a part of the 1991 national championship team.

The University of Miami was also where he met first wife, Dany Garcia. The two separated after 10 years, but have stayed close. "Since our divorce, we've become pretty good at working together, and we are also raising our beautiful 11-year-old daughter, Simone," Johnson has said.

If not for serious injuries to both his shoulders and back, Johnson's football career could have taken him to the NFL.

Instead, he ended up playing in the Canadian Football League only making $250 a week, and eventually getting cut. "The dreams I had, they're dashed," he explained. "There is no more football. My relationship was crushed. That was my absolute worst time."

After stepping away from football, Johnson looked into the family business of wrestling. After spending time in the WWE's minor leagues, he debuted on TV at the 1996 Survivor Series as "Rocky Maivia" (a combination of his father and grandfather's name).

Johnson was a huge deal in the wrestling world, winning the WWE Heavyweight Title six times and holding the Tag Team Title five times.

Being an incredibly popular wrestler put Johnson on Hollywood's radar. This included getting a call from New York about hosting "Saturday Night Live." After he was asked to host, Johnson says, "I fell out of my chair."

The wrestler's stint on "SNL" (as seen below playing the monkey-human hybrid, Papa Peepers) was a ratings success. Most importantly, the gig showed Hollywood that Johnson wasn't just another wrestler — he could really act.

Johnson made his feature film debut in 2001's "The Mummy Returns" playing a villainous ruler. He reprised the role in "The Scorpion King" where he made $5.5 million, the most any actor has made for their first leading role.

It wasn't until 2003's "The Rundown" that people began to see him as a legitimate action hero. "The Rock has a flair for action and comedy," wrote Rolling Stone. "He's a real movie star."

The film also included a brief cameo by Arnold Schwarzenegger, which many critics like Roger Ebert saw as the passing of the action movie torch. "Whether The Rock will rival Schwarzenegger's long run as an action hero is hard to say," Ebert wrote. "But on the basis of 'The Rundown,' he has a good chance."

As his career began to take off, he dropped "The Rock" from his name. "'The Rock' was a name, a character I created in TV," he said. "When I made the transition into film, I knew eventually I was going to be billed as my given name."

He showed his range by playing in family films like 2007's "The Game Plan" and comedies like "The Other Guys" in 2010. "I felt there were bigger and better opportunities," said Johnson. "I also felt there was franchise potential, hopefully multiple franchises in every genre — whether drama or comedy or action-comedy."

Johnson finally got his franchise when he appeared in the fifth installment of the popular "Fast and the Furious" series, "Fast Five," alongside Vin Diesel. "I’ve known Vin for a long time and we’ve always talked about doing something together," Johnson said. "This felt like the right opportunity to create a formidable adversary for him."

"Fast Five" was also an opportunity for Johnson to work again with Universal, the studio where he started his career. "They were the first studio to believe in me when I was making the transition... into acting and helping me create opportunities," Johnson said.

The film went on to make $676 million worldwide and Johnson appeared in 2013's sequel "Fast & Furious 6." He'll also be in next summer's "Fast & Furious 7."

Since then, he's appeared in two more franchises "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" and "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island."

Throughout his career, the one thing that has separated Johnson from many is his work ethic. The actor put on "12 to 15 pounds of muscle" for 2013's "Pain and Gain." Between himself and co-star Mark Wahlberg, the actors were eating 17 meals a day.

Johnson's latest appearance is in "Hercules," a re-telling of the mythological Greek hero.

Paramount Pictures

"Hercules was by far my most demanding role," Johnson said. "Very taxing on the body — physically, mentally and every which way in between. Funny thing is, if I had to do it all over again ... I'd do it twice."

Even though Johnson's acting career is going strong, he has returned to the ring for events like Wrestlemania. "I'm back, not for money, not because I like being on the road, but because I love the business," he said.

Last year, Johnson was in four films which made more than $1 billion at theaters. In 2013, Forbes named him the highest-earning actor in Hollywood. This year he was ranked No.2 after raking in $52 million in a single year.

Next up, Johnson will take his talents to TV as executive producer and star of the new HBO comedy "Ballers," about a group of football players. He is also currently filming "San Andreas" and is rumored to be reprising his role in "Journey 3: From the Earth to the Moon."